Posted on Feb.20.2007 @ 02:38AM EDTbyjayenbee
I am looking into some of the principles of Zen Meditation as a way to cope with my chronic depression without the support of medication. I would be grateful for any insight to useful resources/books/CDs etc. that people may think will help me in this.

Your experience with depression can be a gift to others. You didn't choose depression - you can blame yourself for it, ignore it, reject it, refuse it and hate it or you can listen to your depression in meditation and accept it.

if you sit and say count your breaths then you wont have time to listen to negative talk from your mind about depression. also meditation helps with this. depression is also a feeling. once you become unattached to this feeling it will pass.

We have not been free of disease hitherto; we have had the Buddha bug and the patriarch bug. Intellectual excluding now adds to the disease and augments the disease. The very moment itself of eliminating is inevitably disturbance. They are simultaneous and are beyond simultaneousness. Disturbance always includes the fact of trying to eliminate them.

I've never heard of depression in third world countries no matter how destitute most of their people are. In fact, you always see them smiling and there's always hope in their eyes. I guess depression is a rich man's disease, another term for boredom.

Quote: "Depression is a choice, since it is created in the mind you do have control over it. I don&apos;t believe in any of the doctor-prescribed medications. Only you can control your state of mind. ".........

There are things you can do, but probably still hurdles to leap over.

Self Hypnosis can be a valuable tool. Once you know how to 'count yourself down', you can do it just about any time anywhere.

I finally talked to my brother about the many times he had tried to kill me as a baby, and how he made my life miserable with his petty tortures long after that. I asked him how he felt about that. He said he no remorse whatsoever, older siblings do that kind of thing, it was just the way it was back then.

I thought about that. I remembered seeing an interview with a Nazi SS Officer, talking about the Holocaust, who said, *You had to be zere. Its just de vay it vas back zen*.

I decided that my brother, having no remorse for countless felonies, is no less a sociopath than a Nazi, and I dont want anything more to do with him. Since then I have been estranged from him and his immediate family, and I have not been experiencing depression anymore.

Whenever it arises, I just recall that I have settled that matter and put it behind me.

no! people are responsible for their choices, the name of the organisation doesnt matter, nazi, human race, soldier, this is one of the reasons humanity is where it is now. 'he did it i can too, if i dont do it i lose my job, it was him or me'

Quote: "no! people are responsible for their choices, the name of the organisation doesnt matter, nazi, human race, soldier, this is one of the reasons humanity is where it is now. &apos;he did it i can too, if i dont do it i lose my job, it was him or me&apos;

diabetes has a lot to do with choice, it is a matter of diet and exercise. Accept it or not up to u. (at least before you become diabetic)

but this is not the point i make, the point i make is that you allways have a choice to be a Nazi or a criminal or a murderer these are decisions (or decisions not to make the decision) just to accept and do what you are told.

These decisions are do i want to take life? do i have regard for life? do i respect others perspective on posessions do i steal them?

just my opinion anyway i not asking you to understand.

you either make the decisions yourself or allow others to make them for you up to each person.

as my mother allways said if i told you to jump of a cliff would you? i hope this helps

In Type 1 Diabetes, the body destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas. When your body destroys the good stuff, it has what is called an autoimmune disease. Diabetes Type 1 is known as an autoimmune disease.

I only wish I had done it sooner, but I waited until both parents were dead and their affairs were settled. They always wanted us to get along.

(Years before, at 14, when he was 16, I finally *called him out* to fight in the backyard. Suffice it to say that he ran away waving his arms in the air like a little girl. I nearly killed him for a change. We still fought verbally after that, but he never tried to get physical with me again.)

changing external circumstances might be hard, key is to choose how you will relate to it. Self acceptance are words pointing in a direction.

How you feel abouth youreself is a key. If one is doing the best of a situation, and beeing damn near proud of oneself, then one have a good self feeling. With this good self feeling, the world seems good, even thou everything is excatly as before really.

Feeling bad, down, at least tell you`re friend. (That you want to be alone because youre depressed). I`ts amazing how persistent they can be in invading ones privacy when they understand that you do not dislike them, but youreself.

I found lot of replays here. I have question about medication. suppose I am taking antidepressants and I am feeling better, so my question is should I continue with the same antidepressants without reffering Doctor?

Quote: "I found my self in depression since last 2 weeks. I don&apos;t know why..I am not feelink well. In company also I can&apos;t concentrate on y works.. ".........

In meditation, the only thing you need to be able to concentrate on is your breathing.

It helps to take a *time out* in order to remain focused on the rest of your life. Even if only for a minute or two at a time.

Any time you can pause, close your eyes, and feel your breath entering and exiting your body, slowly.

Meditation is not another demand on you. Dont let it be one. Scheduling it, rearranging your schedule for it, etc, counternands it purpose, which is simply to be able to *stop*.

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pretty much. very good don. i like this.

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A number of people were surprised at how quickly I learned to snow ski. I was on my way to the top of the mountain in less than an hour.

While practicing on the Bunny Slopes down below I knew exactly what to learn first: How to Stop !!

It helped that I already had experience ice skating. The edge controls are the same. Skiiing is just like skating in clown shoes.

Learning how to stop worked. If I got going too fast I just stopped, or partially stopped until I slowed down enough to go again. When in doubt, just stop.

And meditation works that way in life too. If it seems that life is going too fast, or is overwhelming in some way, take a moment, a pause, close your eyes, breathe slow and easy, and feel your breaths enter and exit your body slow and easy, and then pick up where you left off with a renewed outlook.

Im not sure that the physical effects of depression are more than the overall affects of depression.

Depression causes depression, in a clinical sense.

Ive been suicidal since the age of three. Depressed virtually my whole life. Most kids three years old dont even know about death, let alone covet it. But when someone tries to kill you everyday for an extended period of time, you learn about death.

Since I finally made the decision to estrange my brother, the principal factor in my depression, it has gone away. I wish Id known that earlier. Still I had to wait until the rest of the family, mom and dad and the grandparents, uncles and aunts, had passed away. Now that they are all gone, so is he.

I have no family except for a couple of cousins in Canada that I see about every 20 years, but Im better off alone. I'm no longer depressed, or suicidal.

No one, and nothing, can hurt you unless you care. Thats why I say to write it all off, including yourself, and just dont care. Then even if someone points a shotgun into the middle of your chest and pulls the trigger they cant hurt you.